


The Sweet Surrender of Silence

by MelodyoftheVoid



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: :), Body Horror, Eldritch Abominations (Cthulhu Mythos), M/M, Mind Manipulation, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Nyctophobia, thalassophobia, the terrifying depths of the open ocean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24100255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodyoftheVoid/pseuds/MelodyoftheVoid
Summary: ~I'll wait on you inside the bottom of the deep blue sea~
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), implied, sort of? who knows
Comments: 38
Kudos: 254





	The Sweet Surrender of Silence

It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

They always said the road to hell was paved with good intentions, but Dib always dismissed that quote as something people told themselves to prevent the dreamers and innovators from stirring up too much trouble. But now, sitting in a room with the corpse of his former enemy in a tube, floating all too still, he could begin to see their point.

He tried to make sense of the series of events that led up to this point, mind still struggling to catch up to reality.

Ever since his family moved to the coast, Dib had been at war with the Irken Zim, who’d moved to land at the same time on an assignment to conquer the human race and submerge the whole world in water. Absolutely no one suspected a thing, despite Zim lacking about 45% of the traits one would expect of a human. Green skin that was clammy and cold to the touch, clawed hands capable of tearing and shredding any poor soul unlucky enough to get in range, and that weird thing on Zim’s back that he claimed allowed him to walk on land, any one of those should have aroused suspicion but no. The population remained blind to the threat that lived just beneath the sea.

It all came to a head when a fight with Zim led the two to the edge of a cliff. Zim held Dib over the edge, monologuing about the inferiority of humans as per usual. In a last-ditch effort to save himself, Dib grasped at Zim’s back, tearing at the backpack that never left the mer’s body.

The instant he felt a tube, Dib pulled, and a pop was the only warning he got before Zim dropped like a stone. Zim’s false eyes bulged as he clutched at his throat, green skin flushing pink.

And in what felt like an eternity and an instant, Zim went still. Leaving Dib alone with the consequences and guilt.

He knew that he couldn’t just present Zim to his father. Like everyone else he was under the impression that Zim was a ‘perfectly normal human boy’ and showing him the corpse would end with the cops called and a trip to prison or worse, the Crazy House. That was the last thing he needed.

And so, now all he had of his former dreams were a torn tube and a preserved, dead, Zim.

It’d only been a few days, but somehow, he missed Zim’s voice already. He’d never hear it again would he? No one would go out their way to plot and scheme, giving him someone to stop. No one to give him an insight into the intricate workings of Irken society. No one to care when he stopped going to school for a week…

Running his hands through his hair Dib decided then and there to fix this. He just needed to figure out how.

After a series of all-night study sessions and digging through every resource that Zim had at his disposal, he found it. If the legends were true in any regard, something ancient resided at the depths of the Marianas Trench, capable of impossible feats. Descriptions of what exactly it was were nonexistent, only that it was old. Very old.

Although Dib dove frequently, and knew the ocean inside and out, the one place he’d resolved to never go was that trench. The thought of being down in the open ocean, down further than Mt. Everest was tall sent terror through him. Even the Irkens avoided that area according to the map. But he didn’t exactly have any other options. He had to set this right.

One of the benefits of having Professor Membrane for a father was the access. Long ago he’d built a one-man submarine to fight Zim in his natural habitat, and no one questioned a thing. So, with a note and a handful of odd stares from the janitorial staff, _Nessie_ made her way out into the open waters, bound for the deepest abyss.

~~Never to return~~

Four days. It took four whole days to get to the trench. Even still as he was poised over the precipice of the vast deep, miles away from civilization on land or sea, a small voice urged him to go back home. He could just dump the body and no one could ever know. But there was something here. It would fix everything. He could feel it.

Shaking off his conflicting thoughts he began the descent. Dib double and triple checked each and every system to make sure nothing would break. The sun reached less and less of the water around him the further he went. Vegetation vanished, the fish grew more frightening and bizarre, and the only sense of direction came from the instruments glowing faintly on the dashboard. The headlamps causing the fauna to flee away from the unfamiliar source of light.

One curious vampire squid lingered around the hull, attempting to latch on before too disappearing into the abyss. Dib was grateful in an odd way to the temporary company.

The depth gauge was nearing the lowest levels recorded in past dives, and so the hunt began. Dib considered himself an expert at finding anomalies, even though most people called it ‘rampant paranoia’. Scoffing in the eerie silence of the cockpit, he strained to see into the murky waters. The floodlights barely piercing the veil of absolute black.

The temperature readings suddenly dipped, plunging far below the previous measurements and well into freezing territory. Yet the water was moving as if everything were normal. Dib swung the ship around to look at the source of the oddity.

An inky void where the seafloor should’ve been opened up before him, calling to be explored. Before any logical part of his brain could object, the _Nessie_ descended.

As the last of the sub slipped into the abyss, Dib had only a moment of respite before all light and sound disappeared. The machine keeping him alive entirely unresponsive.

Dib sat in the darkness, afraid to move even a single inch from his one anchor to reality. Dib was utterly and truly alone. Doomed to die miles away from what he'd sworn to protect because he'd won for once in his life. His grip on the rein only loosened when he thought of Zim. Not of the depleting oxygen, not of the pressure that threatened to crush him in the depths, but of the being that pushed him to make this journey in the first place. Dib stumbled his way through the hold, bashing his head into what felt like every wall until he felt the cool glass of the holding tank.

God what was he even doing down here. No one would ever find his body, he severely doubted that anyone would mourn. He was driven to a different death than so many of the Irken’s victims, but the results were the same. Maybe at the very least he could become the next unsolved disappearance to drive a new wave of conspiracy theorists. Then at least it’d all come full circle.

Pressing his face against the tank, he let the grief he’d held back crush him. The ocean itself burying him in despair for his transgressions.

“I’m sorry. You hear that fish-boy? I’m fucking sorry. I’m at the bottom of the ocean to try and find a way to fix this and now I’m going to die for it. I never thought I'd miss you mocking me and yet here I am. I hope you’re laughing at me somewhere.”

**_What a curious creature_ **

****

He froze. The whisper seemed to be everywhere at once, yet nowhere. Dib’s voice caught as he tried to speak back, the air seeming thicker than before. He wondered distantly how long he’d been in the dark. He wondered if he was running out of air.

**_Come here so I can see you_ **

****

Dib felt himself stand, unsure if he was watching himself move or if he was trapped in his own body. Somehow, he made it to the cockpit without hitting any of the pipes and stood. Unable and unwilling to move. He didn’t know how, but whatever he’d found was all around him. He could feel it in every nerve of his body.

**_Now small one, isn’t that better?_ **

****

A blinding yellow light cut through the dark, but Dib could not blink to shield his eyes, still bound by terror and Their spell. The two sources shone as bright as any sun, but there was no warmth to be found in them. Even the moon despite its icy light gave a glimmer of softness in the dead of night. This sucked any hint of heat from Dib, leaving him number than he’d ever felt. The sources blinked shut, bathing the submarine in darkness before returning to that awful light.

**_Now, what brings you here? Most creatures know better than to enter our domain_ **

****

Despite the overwhelming cold, sweat rolled down Dib’s back. Speech returning to Dib in small increments. “My name is-“

**_We know your name Dib Membrane. In this Realm all know your name. No. We wish to know your purpose here._**

****

“I’m,” Dib tried to compose the last shreds of his pride and bravery, “here to explore the depths of the trench and I wanted to see what lived in the depths.”

**_LIAR. WE KNOW OF THE MER YOU HAVE SLAIN, HUMAN. NOW TELL US AGAIN. WHY ARE YOU HERE?_ **

**__ **

****

Blood trickled down Dib’s nose, a warm contrast to the rest of his trembling body. His head felt it was splitting in two. Dib fell to his knees as the presence let go of him for the first time, leaving him a pitiful mess on the floor of the _Nessie_. His face smeared with tears and blood.

“I came to ask for help.”

A laugh like the crunching of metal scraped against his ears, resulting in another warm trickle of blood. Dib sucked in a quick breath and continued despite the pain.

“I poured through any records I could get my hands on and you were the only thing capable of something of this…” He winced at the memory of Zim choking on air, “magnitude.”

**_And why do you think We would help? A selfish creature who has caused nothing but harm to those around you? What have you done to even begin to deserve-_ **

****

As Dib cried out in agony the sound stopped and the light of its(?) their eyes almost softened? Dimmed? It hurt to think too hard, to comprehend the situation he was in at all. The voice started again, lower. It’d be almost soothing if it weren’t for their voice sounding like 50 radios playing static at different volumes.

**_I apologize, you never truly asked for a favor. Small one, what is it you wanted?_ **

****

The pressure invaded his mind again urging him to speak the truth. He staggered to his feet, vision swimming with the sudden movement as his nose began to bleed anew. Possible responses came and went, but the fear of Them yelling along with Their influence compelled him to speak.

“I never want to live without him again. There’s no life for me alone. Please, please just help me.”

**_Ah. I think we can do something about that little one. Come to Us._ **

****

This time, Dib yielded to Their control, too exhausted from days without sleep and blood loss to fight for any control. Distantly he watched his body drain the tank and carry Zim to the exit hatch.

**_Worry not. In this realm you are safe. Come._ **

****

It opened unnervingly easy, which would cause Dib to worry under normal circumstances, but it was impossible to care. No water filled the sub from the void outside, the space not quite dry but not what a sane human would describe as water. Dib now floated in the endless void, suspended by nothing with only Zim as an anchor. Transfixed by the creature offering him solace.

**_Are You willing to pay the Cost of this action?_ **

****

Whoever nodded in the end, it didn’t matter. The action was completed regardless.

**_Very Well._ **

****

Without warning, the crushing pressure of the ocean collapsed onto Dib. The air was pushed from his lungs in a rush of bubbles. If he could scream, he would. Distantly Dib could hear the cracking of bones through the ringing in his ears, the excruciating pain whiting out his vision. He clutched onto Zim, mind swimming before it all went black.

**_AWAKEN_ **

****

****

****

****

****

****

He opened his eyes and immediately felt _wrong_.

He had fins where his feet once were,

_he’d never had legs before, his tail was so much better than these puny sticks,_

his fingers ended in claws, razor sharp,

_he had more fingers, and his skin much darker, mottled and striped with black,_

he was underwater, how was he breathing?

What

_who_

was he?

**_My child, are you awake?_ **

****

The answer fell from his lips unimpeded by the swirling confusion

****

“Y-yes.”

His mouth felt like cotton, his teeth too sharp, tongue too long,

_When did he become this tall?_

“Who am I? Who are you-“

**_All in good time my little one. You are here because I need you._ **

****

Something clicked. He’d wanted to be needed, hadn’t he? To become someone? Why...

**_You have a new purpose now._ **

****

_He had a purpose. The core of his being yearned to serve. To please._

**_You will help the world see the truth where I cannot. I am limited to this realm, but you have no such limits._ **

****

Memories of the ignorant people of the surface brought back feelings of rage, the bitter sting of rejection. _The fools who mocked what they could not understand._

**_There are worlds beyond your own, where my influence has not spread. With you my power will grow and these lesser realms will fall._ **

****

_Worlds to conquer for a greater power, the weak being put in their rightful place, it felt right_. Multiple realities to explore and _exploit._

****

**_You are my Emissary. My Child of the Deep. Ascend and take this first world as your own._ **

****

The useless machine abandoned, they returned to the inferior world above. Assured in their mission. Bound together for eternity.

****

**Author's Note:**

> So... I really have no excuse for this one. I just. I saw [Shandzii's mer Zib ](https://shandzii.tumblr.com/post/617411022986313728/if-zib-existed-in-your-mer-au-would-he-be-like-a) and my brain went "haha what if he made a deal with Cthulhu?" and the more I thought about it the more I was like "wait what if he DID make a deal with an elder god..." Lord help me.
> 
> Edit: AHHH OH MY GOD! Shandzii created these AMAZING pieces to go with my fic and I couldn't be more grateful honestly. These capture the essence of the scenes so perfectly and I just HAD to add them. The original post is [ here ](https://shandzii.tumblr.com/post/617873607846150144/drew-some-scenes-from-melodyofthevoids-fic-the). I couldn't be more grateful for these amazing works of pure art. And thank you all so much for reading and commenting! It fuels me <3 .


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